What is modern chivalry?

I was browsing the web, in my usual manner, and after many train-of-thought google searches I came upon this website promoting the author's yet unfinnished book about modern chivalry-here.

I read through most of the short prose he has and then did some of my own reading on the subject. I got to thinking and the end result was that I agreed with his views. True it is an all male kind of thing, but in the end why is that bad? I found one bit on a British site that asked for women's input;

I like it when gentlemen hold the door open for me. I'm sorry, it is sexist, but I like and appreciate that level of courtesy. I don't assume that a man holding the door open for me believes I'm too weak and feeble to do so for myself. In return, all I can promise is I won't let the door slam back in his face (or anybody else's).

I cannot defend this position, so I won't try to. Gents, I appreciate the quandary you are in. But any woman who berates you for your courtesy is:

• Overreacting
• Aggressive
• Rude

So, thank you to all men who have extended this courtesy to me in the past, and may it continue!

I know that in a discussion of personal beliefs there is no right and wrong, but I do believe the base ideals behind this should matter to people.

Chivalry spells out certain ethical standards that are needed to foster the development of manhood. Men are called to be: truthful, loyal, courteous to others, helpmates to women, supporters of justice, and defenders of the weak. They are also expected to avoid scandal.

That is it in a nutshell. But shouldn't these standards be standard? I certainly wish they were!! and not just in men, in EVERYBODY. truth, loyalty, justice...sounds a bit like some documants involving the phrase "our forefathers," right?

What the site says on a grander scale is that a base key to solving problems is understanding and respecting yourself and then doing the same to ALL persons you encounter in your daily doings. That sounds pretty damn good to me. I end this repetative post with the book's author's closing words.

We often take who we are for granted—as if our beliefs and behaviors are fixed in stone. The truth is that we are creatures constantly in the making. We either move forward in our development, or backwards. Staying still is the same as going backwards. Why? Because the movement of time never holds still. We either progress with it, or are left behind.

-G

Hello Again

Ahoj all. I hope you all had a happy holiday season. Mine was okay, but a little heavy on the driving. Surprised? :)

I have not been up to much lately since the holidays put my regular life on a sort of standstill. I have spent the last several nights thinking about car mods and watching GiS 3, 5, 6 and 7 all of which are spectactular exhibitions of driving. I would relaly love to meet up with those guys and find out how they do alot of things. I have noticed that all the cars they use have been "featured" in the very subjective reviews. Slightly confusing. Either way the Gatebil shows are my favorite part since it is just the kind of thing I would love to have here in the states.

I am also back in "move the hell away" mode. After late nights talking to my brother and some friends I have again started the trying to move process. It is really stressful for me but I need to do it and wish i had more direct support of it. (rather than my dad always saying how nice PF is. fuck that)

So anyway, happy non-holiday season for now. 10 days to the next TSD and two weeks to Sno*Drift! Hope to see all you gearheads out on the roads!
-G :)

CSI: The Midnight Assault.

My day started off bad. It started off at approximately 12:30am. I woke up screaming and bleeding on my kitchen floor...to be exact I woke up as I was sinking to the floor.

Now I should explain one thing: I do have a known record of sleep walking, and I have also woke myself with "outbursts" in the past but I have never had more than a sore toe or shin the next day to rember it by. This was an unprecidented event in nearly every way. And it was rather scary.

When I "woke" I was standing in my kitchen in the dark and my entire body felt like pain. I could tell I was screaming or yelling because I could feel my throat vibrating but I didn't hear anything. I tried to raise my arms up to feel my face but my arms hurt so bad when I did that I dropped them down and my entire body kind of followed them to the floor.
Now I am in a sort of upright fetal position on the floor and I feel a warm liquid on one of my hands. Blood right? Well I can't see since there are no lights on so I bring my other hand up to my nose to see if I have a bloody nose. Nothing there and yet the blood keeps dripping on to my hand. I try my nose again and again there is nothing there. I dont feel anything running down my face so i figure im alright in the head wound department. WTF.
So I stand up. As I stand up pain erupts from my knees, both of them at the same time. Ignoring that pain for the moment I am finally standing and the fluid is still dripping. Through feel I deduct that my chest is fine and free of wetness so I bring my hand up and as I pass my chin finally discover the source, the font du blood.

Now I finally decide to move; Bee line for the bathroom. on come the lights. I look in the mirror and what do I see? Blood, lots of blood coming from my chin. Ouch. I flex my jaw and find that it is about as stiff as can be and more blood comes out when I do so I make quick business of washing my face and eventually the flow tapers off.

By now I am semi-conscious and the pain has reduced itself to three areas; my chin (obviously), the front of my arms/chest, and my knees. I look down at my knees; both are flaming red on the front and appear to have some nasty rug-burn. My arms cause quite a bit of pain when I move them so I painfully remove my shirt and discover some very nasty bruises and scrapes. My left thumb-toe also felt broken and had a blood stain on it.

My brain tells my body that it is very tired and that everythign else seems okay so I lope back to my bed, replace covers onto matress, and collapse until my alarm wakes me up at 6:30.

Okay, now I completely remember everything I have just recounted. I also know that I consumed one alcoholic beverage, one half of one pizza, no OTC drugs, no prescription drugs, and no illegal drugs before going to bed last night. No furniture has been displaced other than perhaps my desk chair (on wheels) rolling around at some point. When I got home this morning I discovered more blood on the floor of my "living room" that might slightly resemble a pattern. At some point my chair rolled through some of the drops and made cute little trails to where the chair was when I woke up.

About the only solution I have come up with is that these are all related to me violently falling down at some point before I was conscious and while in a different room from waking. When I left my bed it was very quickly because all sheets/blankets where strewn from bed to doorway. I possibly stubbed my toe in/during the falling process as there has not been any further pain from my foot. Logically I fell in my bedroom at some point since I have skinned/burned knees and that is the only room with carpeting. When I fell I had my arms out at least a little and they took the brunt of the fall after catching something with my shoulders. The scratches on my left side match up but I cant match them with anything in the room. The triangular scab/scar on my chin at least indicates it happened in the fall...thankfully ruling out something self inflicted.

So...What the hell happened to me last night? I know this may sound like a riddle or joke but all of this happened to me within the last 24 hours. The only riddle is how/what/why? It made for a rather amsuing story at work, but initially it was kinda scary. Who knows...

-G :)
PS- I took the pictures this morning and the pictures dont do the pain justice.

Be in peace, Grandpa.

On a sad note my grandfather past away yesterday afternoon.
As distant as I may have been the last several years I will miss him very much. To quote the oh-so-quotable Busta Rhymes- "You don't know what you got, till it's gone."
Alvin was a great conjurer of thoughts with an endless stream of stories and grand plans or ideas. For any of you techno nerds out there I suggest reading his book: A Time to Fish, A Time to Dry Nets. It will carry on several of his memories.

Too much fun!

Okay I was reading my brothers blog and he posted this silly thing, and I had to try it. Surprise; it actually seems to work! amazing.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
North Central
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

-G :)

Dis-saster again

Well, I got my new tires today...and on the $274 invoice there is a note indicating that my car needs new balljoints and tie rods. what a farce. Both sides too. That sucks big time as the Jeep Commanche is in the garage right now waiting for a new transmission. AHHHHhhhhhh Why do these things always happen at the worst time of year? I need to buy christmas presents, travel around, take time off work...all that = crap.

So i guess it's time to get the damn truck operational so I have something to drive while the Bimmer goes up on repair blocks for a third winter. It's depressing. At least the tires feel good. We dont have much snow yet but they felt fine on the way home at least. The car felt remarkably stable on the way home too which makes me think they did put it on the alignment machine but didn't quite finnish everything. *shrug*

we will find out how good the alignment/BJs/tierods are tomorrow sometime.
-g :(

Christmas already?

Last friday I put in my request for this years Christmas Holiday. 2 weeks starting the 18th of December. Right now there is a loose plan of going to the TwinCities for a while and then traveling around with my long lost brother when he gets back.

So if you have any visitation or gift requests i highly suggest you put them in now while the schedule is still loosly open.

I still want to by a car for christmas. :) So far I bought myself new snow tires and a really nice London Fog coat. I suppose i should spend a little bit on other people too.
-G :)